Be SpectACTive! is a European project based on audience development, involving some of the most innovative European organizations working on active spectatorship in contemporary performing arts. Its members are European festivals, theatres, universities and a research center.

Be SpectACTive! aims to strengthen audience engagement with artistic creation and with cultural organizations. Its main means of action will be 21 new theatre and dance shows, 54 creative residencies, 30 workshops (with 1.000 local spectators who will choose and programme 108 shows), 4 international conferences and a constant online interaction between artists and web-users. But Be SpectACTive! is also a research project: it will accompany all the previous areas of action in order to evaluate their impact and effectiveness.

In an age of personalization and ubiquitous interactive platforms – where audiences increasingly demand active participation in culture rather than passive consumption – BeSpectACTive! will enable European arts organizations to explore new models and concepts of participation, accessibility, interaction and social cohesion. It focuses on the interaction between cultural activities and new concepts of citizenship and legitimacy, including the most advanced theories of participatory governance.

The key word is active spectatorship. It refers to each mechanism through which audiences, namely spectators or citizens, take on the role of decision makers with regard to the many aspects needed to carry out a theatre or dance festival. The project aims to give the audience a decision-making role, providing spectators with individual responsibilities in a common space of creation.